Peer Review

Information Literacy User's Guide

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Reviewed:: Jul 15, 2025 by ICT Literacy

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Ratings

Overall Rating:

Content Quality:

Effectiveness:

Ease of Use:

Overview:

You may be using this book for any one of a variety of reasons. It may have been assigned by a professor, in whole or in part. You may be using it to enhance your research techniques for your classes. Or you may see the importance of being savvy about information use and production, and have decided to learn more on your own. It seems that information content, context, and quality matter more than what kind of package or format the information takes; which is addressed. And accessing information is just one component; there is also your role as an information producer. We’ll get to that, too. You will learn a number of ways to enhance your abilities to work with the information that surrounds you. Although described as a course, this can be used as a textbook.

Type of Material:

Open (Access) Textbook

Recommended Uses:

Students can read each chapter as homework, and discuss it as homework. They can apply the chapters as they conduct research.

Technical Requirements:

This open access textbook works on Chrome, IE and Safari and is functional on both mobile devices (tablet) and computers.

Identify Major Learning Goals:

Identity your information need.

Know what is available.

Develop research strategies.

Find what you need.

Assess your reserach process and findings.

Organize information.

Share what you've learned.

Use technology tools in research processes.

Target Student Population:

general education students, library and information science majors, professional educators

Prerequisite Knowledge or Skills:

basic ICT skills

Content Quality

Rating:
Strengths:: This interactive online course uses a module approach to provide a comprehensive demonstration of what comprises information literacies in both a learning/academic setting and life. Each module includes a thorough description and summary, along with charts and suggested activities. The course is based on SCONUL's seven pillars of information literacy, and the authors, who are librarians. added current information about visual and science literacy. Basic Microsoft 2013 productivity applications and computers supplement the information literacy concepts. Readers can follow the course independently across curricula. Links are accurate and work; resources are attributed appropriately.
Concerns:: The technology modules, which are outdated, could be integrated into the information literacy modules.

Potential Effectiveness as a Teaching Tool

Rating:
Strengths:: This textbook provides readers with easily identifiable learning objectives and draws its information and goals from existing ICT standards. The modules are sequenced logically and include checks for understanding, making for efficient learning. The content lends itself for creating assignments for many subjects and daily applications. A student could learn a lot in a very short amount of time and instructors can supplement resesarch strategies instruction on their own if an information professional (librarian or researcher) was not available to provide supplemental in person learning for their course.
Concerns:: The videos are too long, outdated, and the voice-over is not professional quality.

Ease of Use for Both Students and Faculty

Rating:
Strengths:: The course is outlined for easy access, both sequentially and by each concept. The technology is easy to manage. Materials seem to be ADA-compliant.
Concerns:: The website asks the user to login, but it is not required (but that is not obvious). The video is too long and its voice-over is not professionally done.

Other Issues and Comments:: It is often difficult to find information literacy textbook content. The material is basically a version of CUNY's textbook of the same title.
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